Big Box Book Bust

Let me start by saying that I love bookstores; I always have and I always will. On top of loving the smell of new paper and the inviting rows of pristine covers; I am a firm believer in the inexorable power of words and have dedicated a portion of my adult life to their mastery. Nostalgia aside, there are changes coming in the next few months that are going to up end the entire publishing industry. The model that writers, agents, publishing houses, and booksellers have relied on for years is on the verge of collapse. Books, as we know them, are about to change.

Barnes and Noble announced last week that it had endured a terrible quarter. To soothe the effects of its financial losses, the largest bookseller in the United States is shuttering twenty stores this year. What’s more, they’re abandoning the Nook Color™ property because of its poor performance against the Kindle Fire and similar devices.  If current trends in traditional book v. eBook sales continue (and I believe they will) this move is the strategic equivalent of playing chess without a queen. At a guess, I would give the company less than a year before it follows Borders into the annals of literary history. I don’t doubt the dedication or tenacity of Barns and Noble’s leadership, but I’m afraid the writing is on the wall.

The staff at By The Pen apologize for pun you’ve just endured

The importance of the impending demise of the last great chain of brick and mortar of bookstores cannot be understated. While online book retailers like Amazon continue to grow exponentially, without B&N the profitability gap for most of the literature industry will become unbridgeable.  Most, if not all of the big five fiction publishing houses won’t survive this transition. The editors, promoters, agents, and authors that depend on them will abruptly find themselves without a paycheck.

I won’t lie, it’s going to be a giant mess, but this is a rare age of adaptation and enterprise. There are innumerable opportunities for entrepreneurs to put their skills to work and help shape the next generation of literary agencies, bookstores, digital publishing houses, and on-demand book crafters. Online distribution networks and simplified copyright procedures (see the youtube model) are cutting down the barriers between authors and their readers. Freelance editing is shaking off the distemper of its youth and gaining greater legitimacy by the month.  Finally, free social media and analytics programs are putting the most sophisticated marketing techniques ever conceived directly into our hands.

We’ll miss Barnes & Noble, just as part of us misses drive in movie theatres, but there’s little time for melancholy reminiscence when faced with so many promising opportunities. Stories will always retain their power; the twenty first century is just finding new ways of getting them in front of readers.